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[TheFreshPrince]

So for the longest time I've avoided the use of cage traps because they seem ridiculously unbalanced (they can reliably take out anything from goblins to dragons, even wooden cages), but my favorite part of the game is using wildlife in your fortress' affairs. Until now I've relied on domesticated animals and the elves, but I figured there should be either some methods of use, or some way of altering how cage traps work, that could balance them out to not make them feel like a broken mechanic.

My first thought was just to use them in caverns, do forgotten beasts avoid traps? It would be realistic for cavern wildlife to be caught, but FB's seem like a stretch. I'd like to avoid using them on the surface because taking out sieges with them also seems kind of cheese.

Tips, suggestions?

Thanks in advance

[pisskop]

Dwarves in 40.xx with low discipline (read: all civvies) have been known to freak out when told to pit or pasture a hostile, releasing the creature.

The mass dumping is apparently a thing of the past.  So cages were definitely nerfed, indirectly.

[GavJ]

Just restrict yourself to only put cage traps in out-of-the-way rooms that no creature would ever normally visit, such that you have to drop them there from above or something that would require a home-designed trap to actually do the trapping part, and the cage is just a game mechanics afterthought?

[clownwolf]

add the [TRAPAVOID] token to non-wildlife (standard) creatures. Problem solved (although you can't use any weapon traps as well  ).

Actually, I'm gonna do this right now.

I also don't use cage traps because of the same reason. I basically remove anything that makes sieges easier. This includes the unbalanced trap components that hit for 3x (serrated disc, spiked ball), and the weapons that cannot damage through steel, when in copper form (short swords, mauls, etc.)

[clownwolf]

Here's another idea:

[GNAWER] makes creatures able to escape from WOOD cages. If you add this token to standard creatures, the goblins and dragons will be able to escape. This means you have to melt all metal cages that you buy from merchants, and only create wooden ones.

[Mimodo]

I currently have cage traps scattered throughout my fortress, the surface, and the caverns, and am catching all sorts of wonderful wildlife (whom promptly get slaughtered after being tamed).

Since these creatures never normally bother me, and FBs are trapavoid, it doesn't alter the game all that much. I also use some at my fort entrance to thin out the crowd of invaders, and to train up my military

[Tacomagic]

Alternatively, you can cater your trapping design to go after wild creatures while still allowing siegers to avoid them.

For instance, putting low numbers of traps around murky pools, or creating an out-of-the-way section of walls with central traps to funnel wild animals are great ways to avoid defensive trapping.  Most sieges worth fighting are going to be more than 10 units strong and will b-line for your fort.  So by keeping traps spread out, far from your fort, and sparse in density, the chances you'll trap more than 1 or 2 siegers is minimal while at the same time providing a decent chance of snagging wild-life.

You can also design your walls so they will preferentially funnel animals towards traps if they are heading toward the edge of the map, and funnel siegers away from the traps if they are headed toward your fort from the edge.  You can do this by placing ramps in such a way that a creatur pathing on the inside of the construction will gravitate toward the center of it, but creatures on the outside will path around it.  It'll lower the overall effectiveness of the trap at catching wildlife, but it will almost garuntee that siegers won't charge right into it as soon as they show up on the map.

[GavJ]

Actually on further thought, I support the earlier suggestion of simply adding [TRAPAVOID] to things like goblins, but not to wildlife, the end.

(you can still trap goblins, but you need to web them or knock them out, which is sufficiently challenging to make it not cheap)

[BoredVirulence]

I use very few cage traps in my main entrance. I don't do it to remove goblins, that's easy, I do it for training partners.
I do like to do "wild-life" trapping in the caverns. But I also mod cave spiders to be the size of dogs, war and hunting trainable, and to lay eggs. They make great dog replacements. So its worth while to try and capture them.

If I were to adopt the [TRAPAVOID] solution, I'd make a caste of goblins that are trap avoid. It discourages simple traps without making them irrelevant. Keep in mind, if you do this, they will ignore weapon traps and pressure plates too.

[clownwolf]

I actually now prefer using [GNAWER:gnawed] instead of [TRAPAVOID].

I just think that weapon traps add a lot of fun moments, and its kinda sad having to play without them.

That being said, I am unsure how long it would take a goblin or troll to gnaw out of his cage. Days? Weeks? Months?

[Tacomagic]

I actually now prefer using [GNAWER:gnawed] instead of [TRAPAVOID].

I just think that weapon traps add a lot of fun moments, and its kinda sad having to play without them.

That being said, I am unsure how long it would take a goblin or troll to gnaw out of his cage. Days? Weeks? Months?

Sounds like it might be time for... SCIENCE!

[khearn]

It takes a bat (or any other vermin) about 2 or 3 ticks to gnaw out of a cage when a elf caravan shows up at my forts with one. Maybe it's a bit longer, but it sure seems instantaneous. I suspect a goblin would be about as quick. Basically, it seems like a wood cage it completely useless for a gnawer, while a metal cage is completely effective.

[Deboche]

Here's another idea:

[GNAWER] makes creatures able to escape from WOOD cages. If you add this token to standard creatures, the goblins and dragons will be able to escape. This means you have to melt all metal cages that you buy from merchants, and only create wooden ones.

Better yet, keep the metal cages and there's your nerf right there.

I expect when cages are fixed, wood cages will trap only weak animals, better materials will trap stronger ones and the quality of the trap will also come into play. So to cage a forgotten beast permanently, besides the webbing or whatever trick, you'd also need a masterwork trap made of a material that the FB couldn't break through. As for a dragon, it'd have to be a magma-safe material.